Gvaot, Gofna, Gewürztraminer 2011: Holding up very well, the one and only commercially distributed dry Gewurz in Israel and quite delicious. Still nice acid but my palate could use a bit more.

Shabbat lunch:

Domaine Netofa, Tinto 2011: Bordeaux red in color with on the nose cherries, minerals, loamy dirt and dry cranberries with heavy notes of smoke and roasted meat, medium-bodied with much of the same on the palate as well as licorice and dried herbs, nice acid but very soft, barely noticeable tannins showing on the moderately long finish. Very earthy and old-world doing a great job at imitating the Douro wines from Portugal, this blend of Tempranillo and Tourigal Nacional is substancially better than it's previous vintage and a lot more interesting than its Yarden 2T counterpart.

The bottle was clear when I took it to chill. When I brought it back to the store today, it had "stuff" on the bottom. Not sure what.The salesman had told me that 3 of the Israeli rose's had some sediment on the bottom. I forget which.

They stopped shipping the ROSE' and the bottle I had drank well but the Acid was Gone and Major Sediment for a Rose.. Did you see Must or Lees?

These are not sediments but a sign (happens fairly often with roses wines) that the wine's tartaric acid has gone thru crystallization, generally caused by chilling the wine. However these "crystals" aren't supposed to affect the wine's taste/quality whatsoever.

2011 Capcanes Peraj Petita: I think this was better than the 2010. If I recall correctly the 2011 is more complex but also more subtle and less powerful

Gabriel Geller wrote:Domaine Netofa, Tinto 2011: Bordeaux red in color with on the nose cherries, minerals, loamy dirt and dry cranberries with heavy notes of smoke and roasted meat, medium-bodied with much of the same on the palate as well as licorice and dried herbs, nice acid but very soft, barely noticeable tannins showing on the moderately long finish. Very earthy and old-world doing a great job at imitating the Douro wines from Portugal, this blend of Tempranillo and Tourigal Nacional is substancially better than it's previous vintage and a lot more interesting than its Yarden 2T counterpart.

GG

Gabriel, what do you think about the 2009 Yarden 2T? I just spotted it at a local wine store for only $16 dollars. Does it have any aging potential? Do you think that at that price it might make sense to stock up?

These are not sediments but a sign (happens fairly often with roses wines) that the wine's tartaric acid has gone thru crystallization, generally caused by chilling the wine. However these "crystals" aren't supposed to affect the wine's taste/quality whatsoever.

I did not intend to use the word sediment technically, that is why I first used the word stuff. In the store they told me, in advance, that the crystallization does not affect the wine's taste/quality. So I did not think that was THE issue. It was just that the bottle was seriously off.

So I traded in the Domaine Netofa for Vignoble David's Rose. We'll see how that goes.

Flam Rose' 2012 - As usual Flam produces their rose' from Cabernet Franc, but this year more so than in previous years that character comes through in the way of earthy and green notes that are present on the palate. Those notes are secondary to the strawberry and watermelon, and run parallel to a healthy streak of acidity. It is an austere rose', made in the style of the North Rhone, setting it apart from the majority of Israeli rose' that are far more Provencial in style. The color is that of pink salmon and the nose is refreshing. 12.5% AbV. B/**/Y

Hagafen Zinfandel 2006 - While not a bad wine, I found it quite boring and indistinctive. On the palate the berry fruit is complemented by licorice. But try as I may, I have very little to say about the wine. 14% AbV. C/*/N

Isaac, what I meant is that the crystals aren't responsible for the bottle being off. BTW, I've not tasted it (yet) but the VD Rosé is said to be excellent so nicely traded!

Steve, at $16 the 2T is a steal. Personally I think it's a pleasant wine but I didn't find it interesting in the sense that while it's supposed to imitate the wines from the Douro region in Portugal, like the Netofa Tinto, as opposed to the Tinto it does not differ much style-wise from other Yarden wines (new world bold, full, lots of very ripe fruit and heavy oak). So your decision to stock up should end up being based upon looking for an inexpensive good wine rather than an inexpensive DIFFERENT wine. IMHO at this price point the Capçanes Peraj Petita does a much better job at that.

Shabbos night 2005 Ella Valley Vineyards Choice Cabernet Sauvignon. Nose of Spice and Wood right away and slowly showed a lot of blackberry and what I thought was cassis too. Tastes matched the aromas almost to a T and drank really nicely. Was less than $40 so I thought this was a good deal.

Gabriel Geller wrote:Isaac, what I meant is that the crystals aren't responsible for the bottle being off. BTW, I've not tasted it (yet) but the VD Rosé is said to be excellent so nicely traded!

Steve, at $16 the 2T is a steal. Personally I think it's a pleasant wine but I didn't find it interesting in the sense that while it's supposed to imitate the wines from the Douro region in Portugal, like the Netofa Tinto, as opposed to the Tinto it does not differ much style-wise from other Yarden wines (new world bold, full, lots of very ripe fruit and heavy oak). So your decision to stock up should end up being based upon looking for an inexpensive good wine rather than an inexpensive DIFFERENT wine. IMHO at this price point the Capçanes Peraj Petita does a much better job at that.

Best,

GG

Sorry Gab, but that wine isn't a steal if they gave it away. The fact that it's just like other Yarden's is secondary. The bigger problem is that it's just bad wine--totally out of balance, sweet, and flabby.Steve, I like a nice big Nappa cab with tons of fruit and oak as much as the next guy, but to me there's only 2 kinds of wine: good wine and bad wine. And life is too short for the latter. A good big new world wine needs to balance the big fruit and oak with tannins and acidity, all integrated in a good structure. Otherwise what you get is a sweet flabby wine.If you happen to come across the '08 2T, it is MUCH better, although not as good as the '11 Tinto.

So this forum is like the Hotel California: "You can check-out any time you like,But you can never leave!" Because Harry will come after you and all bets are off The trouble is that I just can't keep up with both the forum and Facebook. Perhaps I'll take Elchonon's example and quit Facebook for a while...

So, this Shabos:

'09 Yiron: A-/*** Anyone who reads my posts knows that I'm not a big fan of most Israeli '09s--particularly those from the Galilee region. Unfortunately, all of the '09 GHW wines I've tried have been a super-sweet cocktail of raisin paste and date juice. Although the other Galil Mountain wines haven't feared much better (including the Meron--sorry Gab), the Yiron is the one big exception. Beautifully balanced, with great structure, the fruitiness you expect from a Yiron, and what I think differentiates the '09 vintage: the 5% Petite Verdot comes through loud and clear with delightful tart blueberries. Great wine from a terrible vintage--Kudos to the winemaker!

'09 Recanati PSZ: A-/*** Inky black, bold Petite Syrah balanced out with the fruitiness of the Zinfandel, this wine really comes together. Give it TONS of airtime to breath--it didn't begin to open up until after 3 hours and kept improving after that. I don't see this wine improving with age, so why hold on? Drink and enjoy. Very food friendly too--more so than you'd expect from PSZ. After Shabos, I finished the bottle with some stinky cheeses and it paired surprisingly well.

Fri Night - Bottle of Affligem Tripel and a glass of Landsman Syrah. Both were delicious but regretted the mix with a morning headache.Sat lunch - Some Yarden CS 2009 - seemed like it needed to settle down a bit. I have a bottle of 2007 - it may be time to visit that one.

Like I write in my post of the 2010 Tinto from Netofa, I do NOT care for the 2009 2T from Yarden, not my cup of tea. The 2008 2T was nice - but that is gone already. The 2011 Tinto and the 2010 Coalition from Shirah are the two best dry Nacional wines that I have enjoyed - period!

GG thinks that the 2010 Tinto is dead and has had bad experiences with it. I liked it, maybe I was lucky! Either way, not improving - so drink up. The 2009 2T IMHO will not improve and is not great now - but hey that is my 2 cents. Totally agree with GG, use your money on the Petita

David Raccah wrote:Like I write in my post of the 2010 Tinto from Netofa, I do NOT care for the 2009 2T from Yarden, not my cup of tea. The 2008 2T was nice - but that is gone already. The 2011 Tinto and the 2010 Coalition from Shirah are the two best dry Nacional wines that I have enjoyed - period!

GG thinks that the 2010 Tinto is dead and has had bad experiences with it. I liked it, maybe I was lucky! Either way, not improving - so drink up. The 2009 2T IMHO will not improve and is not great now - but hey that is my 2 cents. Totally agree with GG, use your money on the Petita